War of the Second Coalition

The War of the Second Coalition (9 June 1798-25 March 1802) was the second of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought between the French First Republic and its allies and a coalition of Europe's reactionary monarchies, chief among them the Holy Roman Empire, Great Britain, and the Russian Empire, in addition to the Ottoman Empire. The Coalition was smaller than the 1792 coalition, with Prussia and many German states adhering to the Peace of Basel and staying out of the war; for the first time, Russia and Turkey joined in the war as reluctant allies. The war began when the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte embarked on an invasion of Ottoman Egypt, with the goal being the acquisition of a base from which France could strike at British India. The French won the Battle of the Pyramids and crushed the Cairo Revolt, and Napoleon Bonaparte led an advance up to the Ottoman city of Acre in Palestine. However, as the French fought against the Ottomans and the Mamelukes in the Levant, the British Royal Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile, causing for several other countries to join in the war on France. Russia and the Ottoman Empire began to besiege the French-held island of Corfu on 4 November 1798, and Austria and England formed an anti-French alliance on 16 November. In late 1798, the only fighting in Europe took place on Corfu and some skirmishes in Italy, with the Neapolitans briefly occupying Rome on 27 November 1798 before Jean Etienne Championnet's army defeated the Neapolitans at Civita Castellana on 6 December, recaptured Rome on 14 December, and advanced on Naples by 21 December, forcing King Ferdinand IV of Naples to seek refuge on Admiral Nelson's British flagship. On 29 December 1798, the plans for a Second Coalition were finalized when Russia, Britain, Naples, and Sicily signed an alliance treaty.

On 23 January 1799, the French occupied Naples, and they proclaimed the "Parthenopaean Republic" three days later. On 1 February, Louis Desaix' victory over the Mamelukes at Aswan confirmed French control over Upper Egypt, and Bonaparte advanced into Palestine from Cairo. From 1 to 2 March 1799, the French armies of Jean-Baptiste Jourdan and Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte crossed the Rhine River and invaded Germany, followed by a declaration of war on Austria and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany on 12 March. On 3 March, the French garrison on Corfu surrendered, but Napoleon's army in Palestine made rapid gains with the capture of Jaffa on 7 March and the start of the siege of Acre on 19 March. On 25 March, however, the French armies in Germany were defeated at Stockach, and Jourdan gave up command of the Army of the Danube on 3 April. On 14 April, the Austrian and Russian armies of Michael von Melas and Alexander Suvorov met up in Italy, and the Russian and Austrian armies repeatedly defeated the French; in June 1799, the Austrians retook Naples, defeating the French at Zurich that same month. In August, General Barthelemy Catherine Joubert was killed at Novi, and the Russians and Austrians succeeded in taking over much of northern Italy. Napoleon decided to return home from Egypt as his siege of Acre failed and as a political crisis began in France, and he seized control of the government in the Coup of 18 Brumaire in November 1799. Napoleon proclaimed the French Consulate, and Napoleon took command of the armies in Italy. The French defeated the Coalition in a second battle at Zurich, forcing the Russians to back out of the war, and Bonaparte decisively defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo on 14 June 1800. While the French lost the brave Louis Desaix in the battle, the Austrian army was smashed, and another Austrian defeat at the Battle of Hohenlinden on 3 December 1800 persuaded the Austrians to make peace with the French in the February 1801 Treaty of Luneville. From 1801 to 1802, Britain alone fought against France, securing the surrender of the French army in Egypt before being forced to sign the Treaty of Amiens on 25 March 1802.